The Chicago Tribune Media Group’s Pioneer Press is reporting that Oak Park Elementary District 97 and teachers reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday.
The Oak Park Teachers Association’s membership had rejected a previous agreement last month but will vote on ratifying this one in mid-January.

Both groups released a joint statement saying the new agreement addressed concerns raised by the membership about the earlier one. The sides have been negotiating the contract for 11 months.

Mount Prospect village trustees ended recent haggling over the 2014 tax levy this week, approving a compromise plan that will boost the amount of property taxes the village collects by 2.48 percent, lower than the 4.42 percent proposed by village staff.

The 2014 levy, to be collected in 2015, will be $17.7 million. For the owner of a property valued at $350,000, that will mean an additional $27 in taxes owed to the village.

All but two trustees — Paul Hoefert and John Matuszak — voted for the compromise.

Illinois businesses are reminded to adjust the way they calculate income taxes for employees starting Jan. 1.

The Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers reports Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration posted a notice this week on the Illinois Department of Revenue website with the information.

Employers are reminded that the temporary income tax rate of 5 percent rolls back to 3.75 percent at the beginning of 2015. State revenue department spokeswoman Sue Hofer says officials wanted to make sure employers can make adjustments.

In the past few days, there has been a flurry of information about SB 1342, a pending rewrite of Illinois eavesdropping statutes. Some say it will punish ordinary citizenswho record the police; some say it’s too vague and others that it gives police more authority to eavesdrop on citizens.

Here’s what you need to know about SB 1342 as it awaits the governor’s signature.

1. The bill does not ban filming the police.

Top consumer advocates on Tuesday, Dec. 16, united to block an expected legislative push by big telecom companies that would allow for the elimination of low-cost home phone service in Illinois, as polling conducted on behalf of AARP shows strong support for Springfield leadership to protect reliable and affordable home phones.

The poll findings were released as AARP Illinois and the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) launched a “Save Our Service (SOS) Campaign” ahead of the General Assembly’s 2015 session.

The Illinois Telecommunications Act is up for review, and the telecom industry is expected to renew efforts to scrap state requirements to provide access to affordable home phone service. More than 1 million landlines are in Illinois, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), serving some of Illinois’ most vulnerable citizens.

Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner balked Tuesday at the size of requests from state agencies to boost the current budget, saying approval of their bids for up to $760 million would cause a bigger backlog in the state paying its bills.

Rauner said the requests for more funds for the budget year ending June 30 are an outgrowth of “fundamentally dishonest” appropriations in which Democrats knowingly shorted money to agencies to make the budget look smaller, figuring they could get more money after the November election.

The Illinois Supreme Court has allowed the use of cameras and audio recording devices in Cook County courts on an experimental basis starting next month.

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Rita Garman and Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans made the announcement Tuesday morning. Cook County is the largest and latest of dozens of counties in Illinois that have joined a state high court camera pilot program that launched in 2012.

Court officials say the program will begin Jan. 5 in the felony courtrooms at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago. It’s been the site of many high-profile trials. Bond hearings are excluded from the pilot project.

Governor-Elect Bruce Rauner could make history when he appoints a new state Comptroller next month. That’s because he or she could be the last state comptroller to serve in Illinois.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports whether or not lawmakers can abolish the office is the $12 million question, the money some say you could save by letting the state treasurer pay the state’s bills in addition to investing our money.

It won’t be easy, but not impossible either, especially since CBS 2 has learned that it’ll begin with bi-partisan legislation.